Finding the Light
by Nexanda77
Summary: The defenders of light had fought Xemnas and won. It was time to go home. But when Riku and Sora try to follow their friends through the dark corridor it suddenly closes. Stuck in TWTNW they must find their own way home, but will they both survive what lies ahead? (No pairings really)
1. Stranded

**OK so here's what's up. This is my VERY FIRST fan fiction and I am sooo excited! I've read lots of stories on this site and I decided what the hell, might as well put my own out there. **

**So if you didn't get it from the summary this is my version of the ending of Kingdom Hearts 2. It starts right after the corridor Namine opens disappears leaving Sora and Riku stranded in TWTNW.**

**These first couple chapters may seem really really similar to the real KH2 story line but I assure you that the ending is very very different. **

**I own nothing except my original plot. So with out further ado (what's ado anyways?) I will begin my first fan fiction.**

**Cross your fingers! Wish me luck! And here we go..**.

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"What are we going to do?!" Sora asked his voice rising half an octave in fear. "You have to open one of those corridors. We can't be trapped here!" He grabbed Riku's arm shaking him.

His best friend sighed running his fingers through his long silver hair. He wished his bangs would stay out of his eyes so he could think without their distraction, but they just flopped back in their original place. He needed a haircut. But there were more pressing matters at hand. Riku looked down at Sora whose face portrayed the worry in his voice. As always Riku felt the need to comfort his friend and protect him, but he couldn't, not today. Sora already knew the hard truth but Riku said it anyways, "I'm sorry; I can't. The darkness isn't mine to control anymore."

"This can't be happening," Sora said. "We won. We beat him." He ran back to the spot his friends had disappeared. Kairi's voice calling to him as their escape route dissipated echoed in his mind. He had finally found her again and like last time they had been seperated. "I call foul. This isn't fair." He was angry; all his elation after saving the worlds from Xemnas and freeing Kingdom Hearts was gone and he stormed around the roof of the castle muttering curses at their misfortune.

Riku ran after him and grabbed the hood of his jacket jerking him to a stop. "Cut it out man. This isn't helping," he said and turned Sora around so that they are facing one another. "Pull it together. We have to think about what we are going to do now."

Sora nodded and took several deep breaths embarressed by his outburst. Riku was being strong and level headed while he was running in circles. Not for the first time Sora wished he could be more like his best friend. "OK I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. Riku regarded him for a moment making sure he's genuine then released him letting Sora take a step back. Sora put his hands behind his head and leaned back trying to look more comfortable with the situation. He and Riku were alone on top of Xemnas' castle in The World That Never Was. Their friends Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and of course Kairi had made it through the corridor of darkness before it had closed. He wondered where it had taken them. Almost anywhere would be better than this empty nobody world about to be overrun by heartless.

Their position was grim. They were trapped with no gummi ship and an endless stream of heartless, fueled by the hearts still falling from the ruins of Kingdom Hearts, was slowly making its way up the sides of the castle.

Sora could feel his anger coming back at his feelings of helplessness but he forced himself to look on the bright side. The one bright side he could see. "I'm glad you're here Riku. I glad I'm not alone," he said quietly. Sora had searched and searched for his lost friend, a quest that had brought him here to this castle where he had found Riku and for the first time in a long time they had fought on the same side, the side of light.

"Can't say I'm glad to be here, but its nice to be appreciated," Riku replied giving Sora a slight smile. Sora grinned back. Riku wasn't freaking out; he was very calm and that gave Sora back a little of his lost hope.

SCREECH

They both turned to see a huge dragon flying across the sky. "What the hell is-" Riku began but before he could finish his thought the dragon, which appeared to be made of metal, crashed into the castle and the floor underneath them shuttered. They were both thrown to their hands and knees as the floor dipped to one side. The white tiles cracked and pieces slid across the floor breaking the sides of the roof and falling away.

"Riku!" Riku heard Sora shout his name and he looked over at his friend, or rather where his friend had been moments before. Sora was sliding down the now tilted surface scrambling with his hands trying to find something to hold onto as he accelerated towards the broken edge of the roof and the long fall to the ground far below.

"Sora!" Riku cried panicked. He began sliding as well, but not quite as fast as Sora. Sora reached the edge and was finally able to find a handhold on one of the broken edges of the tiles, but his legs were hanging off the edge, dangling in empty space.

"Hold on Sora!" Riku shouted. He angled himself as he slid at a section of the roof where the sides were still intact.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?" Sora replied as Riku hit the side which thankfully held. He inched towards Sora, right up to the edge of the wall not daring to look down and see how far up they really were. As close as he can get, Riku reached out with one hand to Sora while holding onto the wall tightly with his other arm.

Sora's fingers felt like they are close to breaking. He was holding onto the smallest ledge left by a broken tile. Riku's hand was outstretched towards him and he carefully loosened his grip with one hand to reach out for his friend. But as he reached towards him the floor tilted even more. Another white tile fell away and on its way off the roof it clipped Sora on his right temple. It knocked him off the small ledge and he fell off the tower with a scream.

Riku lunged for Sora's hand as he fell and caught it, but Sora's sudden weight pulling him down caused him to fall off as well. They were left dangling, Riku just barely holding on to the side. Sora grabbed onto him with his other hand. "Riku! Can you pull us up?" Sora shouted up at him.

Riku tried but its no use. His arm holding on to the wall was starting to slip and Sora's weight had nearly pulled his other arm out of its socket.

"Riku!" Sora shouted up to him again, "Do you trust me?"

What kind of a question was that? But Riku didn't have time to wonder his arm slipped a little again and he yelled, "Yes!"

"Then let go in 3, 2," Sora paused then screamed, "1!"

Not sure if he would have been able to hold on any longer anyways, Riku let go and they fell away from the castle, or what was left of it. All the towers, like the one they had been on, were cracked and falling into the abyss beneath them. The same abyss that he and Sora now plummeted towards as well.

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**Please please please review! Like I said this is my first fan fiction and actually the first time I have ever shown anyone a story I've written. Let me know how it turned out. ****_I _****think it was great but I might be a little biased. :**)


	2. Let's Race!

But Riku had been right to trust Sora, and after falling for only a few seconds they landed hard. Riku pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and looked around. They had landed on the back of the metal dragon that had destroyed the tower. Riku could feel his hair being blown back by the wind as the dragon flew seemingly unaware of its stowaways.

"You OK?" Sora asked him and Riku turned his head to see his best friend standing next to him looking down concerned.

"Yeah," Riku said starting to get up. Sora helped him to his feet and then stood back letting him straighten up. Now upright, Riku stood rubbing the shoulder that Sora had nearly dislocated. He turned and looked back at the ruined castle fading into the distance. "Well that's one way to get off that roof," he muttered under his breath and turned back to Sora who was holding his head. When Sora took his hand away, Riku could see bright red blood in his palm. Alarmed, he grabbed Sora's head examining the triangle shaped cut left by the falling tile.

"Geez Riku its just a little cut. I'm fine," Sora said surprised by Riku's reaction, "Its barely even bleeding." He pushed his friend's hands away and Riku unhappily dropped the issue.

Gesturing around at the dragon Riku said, "Is this thing a nobody?"

Sora shrugged, "I don't know." He turned to face the head of the dragon that rested on top of a long neck covered in metal scales. "Let's check it out." And he ran off between the two great wings.

Riku easily caught up and ran along at Sora's pace. He could hear Sora panting and laughed. "Bet I can beat you to the head!" He shouted then took off ahead of Sora.

Sora gritted his teeth and dug down deep trying to speed up. Riku always thought he could beat him at these sorts of things and for once Sora wanted to prove him wrong. Somewhere in his mind there was a voice telling him it was stupid for them to be acting so childish as they rode an unknown monster through a world that was falling into darkness. But Sora's competitive side had taken control and he ignored the voice of reason focusing on catching his tall silver haired friend who was pulling even farther ahead with every step.

Riku stopped at the neck and looked back shooting him a superior grin before beginning to climb. He was already halfway up the neck when Sora reached the base. Sora looked up apprehensively but if Riku could do it so could he. With a deep breath he grabbed the scales of the neck and began to climb.

Riku clung to the top scale and looked back down the way he had come. "Whoa!" He laughed nervously. He was so high up he couldn't see the ground anymore. No wait, that's not it. There was no ground left to see! The nobodies' world was gone except for a few flying bits of debris some of which were the size of buildings. Sora was far below clinging to the dragon's neck carefully making his way up. "Hurry up Sora!" Riku called down then hoisted himself over the wall in front of him and dropping lightly into an enclosed flat area on the top of the dragons head. All childish glee from racing Sora was gone. He walked forward intending to look out over the metal dragon's snout and see where they were headed. But he never made it. Something hit him hard in the back sending him flying to the ground.

"I...want...a rematch," Sora gasped finally climbing over the wall and falling with little grace into the enclosed space. Out of breath from the climb he hunched over with his hands on his knees gasping for air. When Riku didn't respond he looked up. Riku was lying face down in the middle of the empty space not moving. "Riku!" Sora shouted and forgetting how exhausted he was from the climb he sprinted over to his friend who stirred and sat up by the time Sora reached him. "Riku," he said, "are you-"

"Look out!" Riku shouted and Sora whirled around summoning his keyblade just in time to block the beam of light aimed at his chest.

The blast held him in place for a few moments then disappeared. Sora lowered his sword wary of another attack. In front of him was an armored man sitting upon a spiked throne with a long sword in his hand. Sora was sure it had been him that had fired the light when his back was turned, but now the man was as still as a statue.

Riku jumped to his feet and dropped into a battle stance next to Sora. The whole scene seemed too familier. "How...how can he still be alive?" Sora asked him.

"I don't know..." Riku said just as surprised by the resilience of Xemnas. "But he won't be much longer," his voice was stronger the second time and he readied himself to charge.

Xemnas lifted his armored head slowly at Riku's comment and Riku charged forward only to be hit in the side with Xemnas' long sword sending him flying to the side. "Riku!" Sora shouted as he ran at Xemnas more cautiously. Riku quickly made an aerial recovery and fell back to the ground on his feet running forward once more. He watched as Sora, having completed a combo on Xemnas, was forced back by a forcefield that had appeared around the armored man still sitting on his throne. Riku ran forward as the forcefield disappeared attacking Xemnas and landing a combo just before he was also forced away.

Sora and Riku stood side by side in crouched positions trying to find the best way to make it past Armored Xemnas' defenses. But before they could act, Xemnas swept his long sword in an arch in front of him and the friends were sent flying off into space far away from the dragon and its master.

Sora stopped tumbling and began to fall, but his instincts took over and he began to fly like he was in Neverland again. The dragon was far off in the distance now and it had pulled its wings in front of it like a shield. Sora looked around and floating with him were pieces of buildings, all that was left of the nobodies' world. But Riku wasn't beside him anymore.

"Riku!" Sora called as he flew back towards the white dragon searching for his friend. The sound of something whistling through the air towards him made him look to his right to see one of the buildings had taken on a life of its own and was flying at him like a missile instead of floating contently in space. Sora quickly rose up letting the building pass underneath him. As it did so, he turned back in the direction of the dragon to see more buildings racing towards him.

Sora flew out to meet them, dodging and weaving between them to avoid being hit. The last one was too close and too fast for him to dodge, and he swung he keyblade with little hope that it would do anything to stop the huge building. Surprisingly, Sora's keyblade easily cut through the building and the two pieces fell away leaving him without a scratch.

As Sora began to fly towards the shielded dragon again, circles of light appeared in front of him. They spun in a slow circle together and beams of energy burst out at him. Dodging and weaving once more Sora escaped the beams by rising above them. Suddenly three more circles appeared in front of him and before he could move out of the way a single beam of energy hit him hard and held him in place while pain surged through his body.

He cried out but there was nothing he could do as his body, shocked with energy, refused to listen to his commands. After a long moment, the circles faded and the energy released him. He dropped like a stone until he was able to regain control of his movements. He hung in the air breathing hard. "Curaga," he mumbled and the soothing green light fell on him taking away the residual ache left by Xemnas' latest attack.

"Sora!"

Sora heard his name and looked up to see Riku standing on one of the buildings still floating peacefully in space. He flew up quickly and floated next to the building keeping an eye out for more of Xemnas' attacks.

"We gotta break that damn shield," Riku said.

"I don't think our keyblade will cut it," Sora replied. "We need something big like a battering ram." Suddenly the light bulb turned on. "Or a flying building with a keyblade wielder on top."

Riku looked at him with a glint in his eye, "Always wanted to ride a missile."

Sora laughed and flipped over to the back of the building. "Launching in 3, 2..." Sora swung his keyblade as hard as he could hitting the building with the flat side so as to not cut it in half and watched it and Riku go flying.

He flew after it quickly and saw it hit the shield perfectly in the center. "Bullseye," he said smugly pumping his fist in the air. But his happiness was short lived as the building merely bounced off the strong shield.

Riku however, was not ready to give up so easily. As Sora watched, he jumped off the building and, similar to what Sora had done, whacked the back of it with his keyblade. Unlike Sora, he used the sharp side and sliced the building into pieces. The pieces flew back into the shield and their combined force sent the dragon reeling. The shield spilt apart, back into wings, and Sora, wasting no time, surged forward.

He caught Riku as he fell and flew the both of them back to Xemnas who was still sitting on his throne. A few feet off the ground, Sora released the magic and they dropped onto their feet.

Not wanting to be swept back into space, Riku charged forward at Xemnas but the nobody threw up a forcefield yet again. Riku was expecting that and performed an aerial recovery landing in front of Xemnas as his forcefield dissolved. He struck forward and began a ground combo on the armor nobody only half aware that Sora had jumped over him and was attacking Xemnas from above.

Xemnas slashed at them with his sword again knocking them back, but the blow was not hard enough to send them flying off the dragon again. Both Sora and Riku performed aerial recoveries and landed shoulder to shoulder facing Xemnas. High above the nobody, four small circles of light appeared. Sora, recognizing them from before, told Riku quickly, "Dodge around them," before jumping to the side away from the first beam that struck the ground where he had been standing.

Riku followed Sora's lead and moved quickly to avoid two of the beams that began to move in his direction. He was on defensive, jumping and weaving around the energy beams, but Sora jumped past the circles and slammed into Xemnas with his keyblade. Riku was distracted for a moment watching him, and paid for it by getting hit in the leg by one of the energy beams.

Hissing in pain, he jumped not quite as high as Sora but high enough to make it past the energy beams, and stood once more in front of Xemnas. Sora was in the middle of a ground combo as Xemnas raised his long sword to throw him off. Riku ran forward and jumped in front of Xemnas' sword blocking it and giving time for Sora to land his finishing move on the nobody.

In a howl of pain Xemnas made yet another forcefield which sent the two of them flying back. They landed and Riku looked at Sora who nodded with a determined look on his face. They both turned to face Xemnas once more and in unison charged forward. Together, they jumped with their keyblades out front and the nobody threw up a forcefield to stop them. But in his weakened state, Xemnas' forcefield was not strong enough to block both keyblades. It shattered like a piece of glass. Sora and Riku, feeling almost no resistance, hit the armored man with their full strength. Both keyblades stabbing through the armor. Time seemed to freeze as a bright light enveloped Xemnas and as Riku closed his eyes he could hear the angry scream of the enraged nobody.

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**Snow days are definitely the best for writing. I think the first day of spring is like tomorrow and in snowed like half a foot last night. WTF I want winter to be over!**

**Anyways, I'm going to work on the next chapter later today and who knows, maybe I'll get it done and post two chapters in one day**!


	3. Xemnas

Sora slowly opened his eyes as the bright light dimmed. The absolute silence of his new surroundings made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Riku took a step forward looking around. "Where are we? Did we beat him?" Riku asked looking back at Sora.

"Hardly."

Xemnas' voice can from all around them and both of them summoned their keyblades. Their eyes darted around the strange white and grey area searching for the source of the voice.

"Heroes from the Realm of Light."

This time his voice definitely came from behind them so Sora spun on his heels to face Xemnas who stood with his arms held out and up in a coat that was now partially white as well as black. He continued to speak but looked over their heads at nothing.

"I will not allow it to end this way. Not yet. If light and darkness are eternal, than surely we nothings must be the same," he paused and, as if noticing them for the first time, brought his eyes down to look at them. "Eternal."

Sora glared at the nobody. He crouched ready to pounce and continue this battle, to end Xemnas for once and for all. But before he could make a move Riku spoke.

"You're right."

Sora looked at his friend confused. "Riku, what are you-"

"Light and darkness are eternal. Nothing probably goes on forever too. But guess what Xemnas-"

"That doesn't mean you're eternal!" Sora jumped in catching on to what Riku was saying. He stepped forward his keyblade pointing out at Xemnas.

Xemnas chuckled and raised an ethereal blade as well pointing it at Sora. "No more eternal than that radiance of yours."

In the blink of an eye, Xemnas was suddenly in front of them. He grabbed Sora by the front if his shirt and threw him high in the air jumping after him. His ethereal blades moving in perfect harmony battered him around while keeping him in the air with no way to defend himself. The only thing that saved him from becoming seriously injured or killed was the magic infused clothes the fairies had given him. They prevented him from getting burned from the blades, but didn't stop the attack from draining his stamina. Luckily for Sora, Riku was able to climb up the white and black thorns Xemnas left in his wake and attack the nobody, taking his attention away from his helpless friend.

Sora fell back to the ground and quickly whispered, "Curaga," regaining his stamina and keeping himself from passing out. Damn. He thought. Xemnas is strong here. This must be the Realm of Nothingness.

Xemnas gave up on the aerial attacks seeing that Riku was easily keeping pace with him by climbing the thorns. He landed on the ground in front of Sora and suddenly there were two of him. Sora spun and blocked the Xemnas that was swinging at him with the blades but when his keyblade successfully made contact with the nobody it went right through and the illusion dissolved. Sora ran at the real Xemnas as Riku landed back on the ground. Xemnas suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Riku swinging his blades faster than should have been possible. Riku was just able to save himself from the assault by putting up a Dark Shield in between him and the nobody, but Xemnas kept up the barrage. Sora could tell that Riku was having trouble keeping the shield up for so long and he rushed at Xemnas from behind.

Xemnas spun around and shot several thorns at Sora who was knocked back several feet on impact. Xemnas jumped into the air and Riku ran over next to Sora who asked him, "You OK?"

"Yeah you?"

"Yeah," Sora was able to reply before ethereal blades, each glowing malevolently, appeared around them. Sora got ready to block them but as they started to move into towards him and Riku he heard Riku shout in his ear,

"Jump!"

Without hesitating, Sora listened to him and leapt as high as he could watching as the ethereal blades crashed in the middle of the circle underneath their feet. They rebounded off each other, scattering away.

Sora landed but wasn't fast enough to block the bullet like ethereal blades which hit him in the chest and sent him flying backwards where he landed hard on the ground. He struggled to get up feeling like he couldn't breathe from having all the wind knocked out of him.

He looked up to see Xemnas above him firing more of the projectiles at him, but Riku jumped in and blocked the bullets sending them flying back at Xemnas who wasn't fast enough to avoid the last one.

His face showed his rage at being hit with his own weapon. He disappeared and reappeared about a hundred feet from them on the ground. Black and white thorns spun in a cyclone around him.

Sora ran forward with Riku at his heels as Xemnas threw a ball of energy at him. Sora didn't have time to defend himself and got sucked into a glass like ball that appeared. It was tethered to the beam of energy extending from Xemnas' hand. Sora felt his body go ridged as pain laced its way through all his limbs. There was nothing he could do but watch in agony as Riku charged Xemnas trying to break the beam of energy only to be sent flying away. Riku tumbled, but righted himself just before landing on his feet. Sora tried not to scream as the pain intensified; he closed his eyes trying to block it out. When he opened his eyes despite the pain and looked down, he could see that he and Xemnas were now in the air and Riku was on the ground fighting another illusion.

Sora watched helplessly as Riku slew the fake Xemnas and jumped at the real thing. He brought his keyblade down on Xemnas' arm from which the energy was shooting out of. They were locked together eye to eye and Sora couldn't tell who was winning. Suddenly the pain stopped, the glass ball holding him disappeared, and he fell to the ground.

When he landed, his knees buckled and he fell onto his hands and knees. He felt a strong arm pull him back to his feet. He looked up to see Riku's eyes full of worry as always. Sora got his legs under him and pulled away from Riku who let him go as soon as he saw that Sora could stand on his own.

Xemnas stood far off holding his arm and seething in anger. He straightened up and held his arms out to his sides each one glowed with dark energy and he brought them together over his head forming one large ball of darkness. It exploded and the whole area turned pitch black.

Sora and Riku looked up as bright red ethereal blades formed a dome over the two of them and shot down like homing missiles. They stood back to back and defended each other. They worked in perfect harmony spinning their keyblades in intricate patterns to intercept each blade and send it hurtling away into the darkness. The barrage continued for minutes until the final blade ricocheted off Riku's keyblade. As the light returned to the area Xemnas appeared behind them.

He had his own ethereal blades in hand and he swung one a Sora as he spun around to face him.

"Sora!"

Riku jumped in front of his friend as the blade came down and it hit him instead. Sora heard Riku scream in pain before feeling a shot of energy to his gut and the floor and ceiling spun around as he tumbled away from Xemnas and Riku.

The paralyzing effect of the blast made him slow to get back to his feet. Once he was able to get up, he summoned his keyblade and ran back to his friend's aid praying he wasn't too late. As he ran he saw Riku on the ground obviously in pain and without his keyblade in hand. Xemnas was bringing his blades together and they connected turning black and glowing with darkness.

Xemnas made to shoot at Riku with the darkness of his blades, but Sora jumped in front of his fallen friend just in time to block the blast with his keyblade. Xemnas initial look of surprise turned to a sneer and he laughed. Sora's arms began to tremble and he looked down to see that the darkness hitting his keyblade was not all being absorbed. Some was getting past and the black tendrils crawled up his arms like some kind of snake.

"I guess you will have to do," Xemnas said and the dark stream from his blades thickened. The power of the dark was too much and Sora was pushed down onto one knee just barely keeping his keyblade up. The dark tendrils were almost to his shoulders and were moving quickly towards his chest. He felt weak, like he was being drained by the darkness and he felt a tendril touch him just above his heart.

Then suddenly there was nothing pushing Sora down and no darkness worming its way to his heart. He raised his head to see the fading light of Riku's Dark Shield.

Xemnas rose higher into the air turning his black double blade back into his original two red ethereal blades. Sora could feel his strength returning as Riku came up next to him putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sora are you alright?"

Sora held out his keyblade and after hesitating Riku placed his hand on top of Sora's. Sora felt his own power combine with Riku's and together they lifted the keyblade up, pointing it at Xemnas. Out of the tip a large stream of light appeared. The light of the keyblade shot straight at Xemnas who covered his face with his arm in a futile attempt to save himself. Sora and Riku kept the stream of light up and the energy shot through Xemnas. The energy flapped his coat around as he began to fade. His darkness was no match of the light of the two best friends. As the nobody faded into real nothingness, Sora was sure he heard him call one last taunt. "The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." And then the absolute silence of the Realm of Nothingness returned.

"We...we did it," Sora said not believing at first that they had really won. "Riku! He's gone! We won!"

He jumped to his feet and punched the air in excitement. "Take that Mr. I'm Eternal," Sora said in a horrible imitation of Xemnas' voice.

Riku laughed but there was pain in his voice. Sora turned to see him now sitting on the ground. Worry replaced Sora's excitement as he remembered the moment Xemnas had knocked Riku down.

"Riku..." he knelt down next to his friend and saw his shirt scorched and ripped on his side. "Let me heal that for you."

"Don't worry about it Sora. Save your energy," Riku said grabbing Sora's hand to keep him from casting the spell.

"But Riku, it looks really bad."

"Its not that bad," Riku replied but he grimaced at the same time.

"Riku just let me-"

But before Sora could argue further, dusk nobodies started to appear all around them. Not just a couple, but what had to be over a thousand. A gasp of pain from next to him told him that Riku had forced himself to his feet. Sora turned so that they were back to back.

"Do you think we can handle this many?" Riku asked Sora through gritted teeth.

"Well," Sora said throwing his friend a small smile, "might be tough if one more shows up."

Despite the situation Riku laughed, "I guess that will have to be the one I take care of."

"What you're fighting too?" Sora asked feigning surprise.

Riku ran his fingers through his hair to remove his bangs from in front of his eyes and chuckled again.

The nobodies surged forward as a single mass and Sora began to lose track of time. He no longer felt exhaustion or worry. He was only conscious of two things. The spot in front of him where nobody after nobody appeared and the feeling of Riku's back pressed against his.

Then suddenly there were no more nobodies stepping up to fight him. Panting Sora turned his head to each side seeing that all the dusks had been taken care of. He let his keyblade disappear from his hand and he fell to his knees. After a moment he turned to see Riku in a similar position facing away from him.

"Sora, I can't..."

Alarmed, Sora jumped to his feet and moved to stand in front of Riku. "Don't say another word. It's not over. It's just not. I was ready to give up back at the Castle That Never Was but you didn't let me. Well, I'm not letting you give up now. C'mon Riku! You've been hanging out in darkness too long," Sora said. "You gotta try and think positive."

Riku sighed then nodded. "Okay."

Sora leaned down and hooked his arm under Riku's shoulder. As he pulled him to his feet, Riku gasped in pain once more.

"Why don't I heal you now Riku," Sora said even though he was more exhausted now than before. But Riku just shook his head.

"I can handle it."

Sora frowned. Why did Riku always want to do things for himself? Was he scared of looking weak? Didn't he know by now that he didn't have to hide his weaknesses from Sora?

"Sora," Riku said and Sora looked up at him. "You lead."

Sora gave him the hint of a smile and replied, "Got it."

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**Hell yeah! Second chapter of the snow day! And I actually wrote most of the next one too but I won't post it till tomorrow. I don't want all of my readers getting too spoiled with too many chapters in one day. If you're interested I got about 10 inches of snow today. Still can't believe it. Seriously winter just stop already!**

**So I just want to say that all you people who follow my story or put it in their favs are awesome! However I've only had one review so far :( Please Review! I'd like to know what people think of my story and my writing. But to those people who follow my story thanks a bunch. When I started this a couple days ago** I **wasn't sure anyone was going to read it.**

**So review and follow and all that crap and look out for the next chapter coming tomorrow hopefully. Just as a heads up its nowhere near as actiony as this last chapter but I hope you will still like it**.


	4. Darkness and Light

They walked without seeming to get anywhere for what felt like forever. After a long period of silence, Riku asked, "Sora, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sora asked surprised, "Why?"

"When you jumped in front of me to block Xemnas, I saw...I saw his darkness winding up your arms. Your keyblade didn't absorb it all."

Sora sighed. He had hoped Riku hadn't noticed. He had known that his friend would worry, as he was doing now. "I know. But it I'm fine. I swear!" He said looking at Riku whose expression told him that he was not being convincing. "It barely touched me."

"Alright," Riku said still not convinced Sora was being truthful. "But if you start feeling...I don't know...something let me know OK?"

Sora nodded and they continued to walk in silence. Sora barely noticed when the white and grey floor changed to dark rock and then to grey sand. He kept his eyes downcast until he heard Riku say, "End of the road." He looked up and saw that a beach had sprung up in front of them.

The crashing of waves from where the water hit the sand was soft and tranquil making Sora feel homesick. It was dark except for the pale light of the moon hanging low over the water. Sora helped Riku walk slowly down to the water and set him down on the sand.

Sora walked to the water's edge and and stood close enough that the water would swirl around his sneakers when a wave came in. He sighed and hugged his arms around himself. "Maybe the darkness has gotten to me too," he said quietly to himself. He continued to stare off over the water at the moon.

He heard Riku sigh and turned. "At least the waves sound the same," Riku said and Sora went to sit next to him.

Riku picked up some of the dark sand in his hand and examined it. "This world is perfect for me," he said letting the sand trickle out of his hand. "If this is what the world really is, just this," Riku continued gesturing around, "then maybe I should fade back into darkness."

Sora looked sadly at his best friend and for once he felt like he knew what Riku was talking about when it came to the lure of darkness. It seemed that after all that had happened this place, this place in the dark realm, was more peaceful than any light filled world he had been to before. But was it right to just give up on the light like that?

"Riku..." Sora began but Riku acted like he didn't even hear him.

"If the world is made of both light and darkness, we'll be the darkness."

Sora opened his mouth to say no. They fought for the light. The darkness was the enemy. The darkness was...not that bad. And if they were going to be stuck here they might as well feel like they still have a role to play in the worlds.

"Yeah," Sora said putting his hands behind his head and lying on his back. "The other side."

Silence descends on them once more. But Riku breaks it saying, "Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course!"

"I," Riku began then paused, "I always figured I was better at stuff than you."

"Really?"

"Are you mad?" Riku asked looking over at Sora for any sign of anger but Sora just smiled and replied,

"No, I kinda always thought you were better at everything too."

Riku lay back in the sand as well. "But to tell you the truth, Sora, I was jealous of you."

Sora half sat up leaning on his elbow. He looked at Riku surprised. "What for?"

"I wished I could live life the way you do," Riku said then sighed. "Just following my heart."

Sora smiled and lay back down. "Yeah well, I got my share of problems too."

Now it was Riku's turn to be surprised. "Like what?"

"Like wanting to be like you."

Riku didn't reply for a moment. He had known Sora had looked up to him when they were kids. Heck he had been happy feeling like he was better than Sora. But he knew now Sora was the one that everyone, including him, should look up to.

"Well there is one advantage to being me," Riku said with a smile turning his head and Sora did the same so they were looking at each other. "Something you could never imitate," he said giving Sora's shoulder a shove.

"What's that?" Sora asked curiously shoving him back.

"Having you as a friend."

Sora's eyes widened slightly seeing that Riku was being completely serious. After a moment he said, "Then I guess I'm OK the way I am. I've got something you could never imitate too."

The silence returned but this time it was Sora who broke it with a sigh. "What's wrong?" Riku asked him.

"There are no stars here," Sora said unhappily pointing up.

Riku stared up into the big blank sky. And pictured what the sky looked like back at Destiny Islands, back when he had dreamed of one day escaping the comfortable laziness of the islands for exciting adventure somewhere else. He had gotten his wish, but not in the way he wanted. He had visited so many worlds but never for fun, never to meet new people and explore new places. He was always hurrying along in the shadows intent on whatever mission Maleficent or DiZ had sent him on. But for Sora, traveling to other worlds had been different.

"Tell me about them," Riku said.

"What?"

"Tell me about the worlds you've been to, the people you've met, the places you've seen."

Sora thought for a moment then began his story starting from the moment he had held his keyblade for the first time. He told Riku everything: Leon knocking him out the first day in Traverse Town, meeting Donald and Goofy, and crash landing in the Deep Jungle after fighting with Donald. He told Riku about Phil and Hercules, about Aladdin and Genie, and about Ariel and King Triton. He relived the silly spots he and Pooh got into with Pooh's friends. He described the strangeness of Wonderland, the frights of Halloween Town, and the feeling of learning to fly. He explained how he had wound up in Monstro, how he had felt about everything that had happened at Hollow Bastion, and finally how he had defeated Xehanort's heartless.

When he finished Riku talked about what he had been doing. How he'd helped Maleficent, how he had kidnapped the various princesses, and how he had let Ansem take him over. After he was done he said in a depressed voice, "I'm sorry Sora."

"Don't apologize," Sora said, "You may have done some bad things in the past but its not who you really are. I know that."

"Thanks Sora."

Sora nodded thinking. "Riku, can you explain who Roxas is? You already told me he's my nobody but how did you know him?"

Riku asked, "You don't remember anything from Castle Oblivion right?"

Sora nodded.

So Riku told him all about his own time in Castle Oblivion, about learning to not fear the darkness, about finding hope in Mickey's light, and about Vexen and the Replica Riku. He recalled the fight with Zexion on the fake Destiny Islands, the fight with Ansem and the darkness still inside him, and Naminé's help. Riku told Sora all he knew about Sora's own stay at Castle Oblivion and what Naminé had done for him.

"That's all incredible especially since I really don't remember any of it," Sora said."But what about Roxas?" Sora asked like an excited child being forced to wait patiently for a Sea-Salt Ice cream.

Riku laughed and smiled at Sora, "OK OK Roxas I got it."

Riku then proceeded to tell Sora all he knew about Sora's nobody. He talked about Organization XIII of which Roxas was the thirteenth member, about fighting Roxas in the Dark City, and about how Roxas had discovered who Sora was. Riku also told him about giving into the darkness to beat Roxas and force him to return to Sora. He tried to apologize again but again Sora stopped him.

"Darkness is part of you just like light," Sora said. "And don't apologize for what you did to Roxas. I'm pretty sure he understands you were just trying to save me."

"Yeah," Riku says reflectively.

"So do you want to know what happened after I woke up?" Sora asked Riku eagerly.

"I'd like to hear everything Sora."

So Sora described his second adventure. He described the hurt of finding out his old friends had forgotten him in only a year and the happiness of making new friends. Riku listened in wonder at the incredible tales that were coming out of Sora's mouth. Sora had done it all: saved China, restored Simba to his rightful place on Pride Rock, and sailed the seven seas with Jack Sparrow. He laughed as Sora told him about singing for all of Atlantica and refused to believe that Santa was real.

"I'm not kidding Riku! I met him!"

"Yeah sure Sora. Did you meet the Easter Bunny as well?"

"No, we didn't go through that tree."

"I was joking."

"Well I'm not! Santa is real and you can't make me think otherwise."

Sora told Riku about Hollow Bastion becoming Radiant Garden, the Restoration Committee, and Tron. He sulked on the fact that he, Donald, and Goofy were still Junior Heroes, laughed about his silly friend Pooh Bear, and wondered at the incredible transformation of the Beast.

Sora told Riku about Mickey's home and the strange Cornerstone of Light. He described his friends from the real Twilight Town, Yen Sid and the fairies, and finding out that Kairi had been kidnapped.

"And the whole time," Sora said to Riku, "you were there helping me out."

"I liked to think that me staying in the shadows was better for you," Riku said.

"Well I wish you had let me know you were alright," Sora said unhappily.

"I'm sorry," Riku said softly. Then, "Let's make a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"A promise that no matter what happens, we face it together and not in separate battles," Riku proposed holding his fist out to Sora.

Sora grinned. "Definitely," he said tapping Riku's fist with his own.

Sora looked back up at the starless sky. "I still wish we could see the stars from here."

"Yeah me too." Riku closed his eyes envisioning all the people and places Sora had told him about.

As they had talked, the tide had come up to their feet. It took Riku a moment to notice, but there was something tapping against his foot each time a wave came in. Riku opened his eyes and sat up carefully with a grimace of pain. It was a bottle.

He picked it up and noticed there was a message inside. Curious, he pulled the cork out and shook the piece of paper out.

Unrolling it he quickly read the words and with a grin he said to Sora, "I think its for you."

Sora sat up and took the letter from Riku's outstretched hand giving him a questioning look. But Riku just smiled bigger and gestured for him to read.

Sora looked down at the letter and began to read. "Thinking of you wherever you are," he read out loud but then his voice died in his throat as he continued to read.

_Thinking of you wherever you are, we pray for our sorrows to end and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish and who knows, starting a new journey may not be so hard or maybe it's already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One sky, one destiny._

_Kairi_

Riku watched Sora read and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Light," he said in disbelief looking out over the water.

"The door to light," Sora said looking up from the letter.

Sora stood staring in awe as what had been a speck of light far off in the horizon grew as it made its way towards them across the water. He leaned down and reached out his hand to Riku. "C'mon," he said carefully pulling Riku to his feet. "We'll go together."

Riku leaned against Sora letting him take the lead. They began to walk into the shallow water and as the light grew closer Riku could feel it wash over him and the darkness that lingered in his heart began to fade.

"Riku, something's wrong," Sora said. The pain in his voice alarmed Riku. Sora's support was suddenly gone and Riku swayed trying to stay upright. He turned to see Sora with his arms crossed in front of his eyes. "It's too bright!" Sora cried and he stumbled half a step back.

"Sora what are you-" Riku began but Sora let out a scream of pain and collapsed. Riku lunged towards him but also fell into the water pain searing across his body emanating from the wound on his side. Sputtering he raised his head shaking his hair out if his eyes. Sora was lying still on his side his eyes closed. "Sora!" Riku yelled in fear reaching out to his best friend. "Sora!"

But the door to light had finally reached them and everything turned white.

* * *

**Man do I love cliffhangers! I think I made it obvious what's happening with Sora but if you didn't figure it out then you will just have to wait! **

**Reviews?...anyone?...please?**


	5. Home

Riku opened his eyes finding himself tumbling under water. Confused he righted himself and followed his natural buoyancy upwards. As he broke the surface, he sucked in a deep breath of warm air. He wiped his hands across his face, parting his too long bangs that had plastered themselves over his eyes. Now he was able to look around and was shocked when he saw that the Realm of Darkness was gone replaced by his home, his island.

"Riku!" The shout was faint but he turned to see Kairi waving frantically at him from the beach.

"Kairi!" He shouted back happily. "Sora look its Kairi! We did it! We're home!" He said this turning around and scanning the empty ocean. His heart stopped in his chest as he remembered the final moments on the Dark Margin. The light had surrounded them both, but Sora had been unconscious and that meant there was only one place he could be.

Riku dove back underwater swimming down as fast as he could ignoring the searing pain left from Xemnas' attack. He forced his eyes to stay open even though the salt water stung. Luckily the water was clear and in less than ten seconds he spotted Sora resting on the sandy ocean floor. Bubbles trickled out of his mouth escaping up to the surface. That means there is still air in his lungs he hasn't drowned yet. Riku told himself trying to keep his worst fears at bay as he grabbed Sora around the middle and began to haul him to the surface. With Sora's dead weight, Riku struggled to ascend, but he was not about to let Sora die down there. So with a burst of energy, he broke the surface gasping once more and leaning back so Sora's head was also out of the water.

Wasting no time, he shifted his hold on Sora and began to swim clumsily towards the far off shore. Kairi was still standing there, but she had been joined by a crowd. He identified King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but there were others he didn't recognize. There were four men and three girls. Two of the men, one with long brown hair the other with spiked blond hair, threw off their jackets, kicked off their shoes, and dove into the water swimming in his direction. Riku did his best to keep swimming, but he was exhausted and his side was on fire. He wasn't getting anywhere. He slowed to a stop and focused his attention on Sora while he waited for the two men to reach them. Sora's head was on his shoulder and as far as Riku could tell he was breathing just fine after nearly drowning. "Sora...can you hear me?" Riku said shaking his friend slightly. "C'mon Sora...wake up." Sora gave no response remaining just as limp as before.

"Riku!" He looked up hearing his name. It was the brunette man who had called him. He and the blond man came up right next to him. "What happened? What's wrong with Sora?"

"I don't know! The door to light...Sora...bottom of the ocean..." Riku can't think straight and the words just tumble out.

The two men exchanged a look unable to keep their fear of their face. The blond man tried to pull Sora away from Riku but he resisted. He didn't know these men and right now the only that he could keep straight in his pain addled mind was that he must keep Sora safe. "I'm not going to hurt him Riku," the blond man said in a slightly ticked off voice. Riku looked deep in the man's blue eyes and could tell that he was being truthful so he relunctantly let him take Sora. He swam back towards shore with Sora much faster than Riku would have been able to in his condition.

Riku, no longer having to stay strong for Sora, felt his strength slip away as he gave in to his own injuries. He sunk a little lower in the water and his eyelids drooped. "Woah Riku! Are you alright?" The brunette man asked grabbing him under his arm. Before Riku could reply a grimace answered for him as another fresh stab of pain shot through his side. Without another word, the man began to swim slowly pulling Riku along with him. "The name's Leon by the way," Riku glanced briefly him.

"Sora...Sora told me about you...about Radiant Garden," Riku forced out.

"He did did he?" Leon mused, "Well I guess that saves time on introductions."

"Why are you...here?"

"King Mickey contacted the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee after finding out that you and Sora hadn't made it out of The World That Never Was," Leon said. "He wanted to meet with us and get our help in searching for you two, but Kairi wouldn't leave the islands so we came to them."

They reached water shallow enough to stand in and Leon straightened up pulling Riku to his feet as well. "Can you walk?" Leon asked Riku. Riku shook his head tiredly. "Cloud!" Leon shouted to the group on shore clustered around a prone figure on the sand. Sora. The blond man looked up and hurried over. Cloud sliped his arm under Riku's on his hurt side and Riku grunted in pain as they led him out of the water. On the beach, they stumbled up to where the others were and carefully lay him down in the sand. Riku closed his eyes letting himself slip away to escape the pain.

"Riku?" Kairi's shaky voice drew him back and he opened his eyes to see her leaning over him her lip was quivering and he knew she was trying not to cry.

"Kairi," Riku said with a sigh. She gave him a sad smile and squeezed his hand.

"Riku!" Mickey's high pitched voice caused Riku to turn his head. His concerned friend was kneeling next to him. He placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Xemnas...he...he wasn't dead." Suddenly his side seared in pain and he cried out closing his eyes tight once more.

"What did you do?" Kairi said accusingly. Riku opened his eyes to see her anger directed at a young woman in a long pink dress who had knelt down next to Kairi.

The woman replied in a calm voice looking at him not Kairi, "I'm sorry Riku I need to see what I'm dealing with." The woman began again to pull up his ripped and blood stained shirt revealing a line about a foot long and an inch wide. It was the burn from Xemnas' ethereal blade. The rest of his side was covered in a dark purple bruise. The woman gently touched his side and he gasped in pain.

"Stop it Aerith! You're hurting him!" Kairi exclaimed.

The woman named Aerith ignored her however and murmured a curing spell. As the green light fell on him, Riku let out a sigh of relief as the pain on his side simmered down to an ache and he could feel all his other smaller injuries heal as well. When the green light faded, Riku was able to sit up holding his side. His mind was clearer without the distaction of pain and he turned his head in the direction of the others who were still clustered around Sora. As he tried to stand Aerith put her hands on his shoulders preventing him from getting up. "Not so fast Riku. The curing spell healed most of your physical injuries but it didn't give you your energy back. Just rest for now."

"What about Sora? Did you heal him?" He asked.

Sadly she shook her head so ignoring her protests he got to his feet and stumbled over to the crowd around Sora. Riku pushed his way between Leon and a girl with brown hair dressed entirely in black to see Sora lying on the sand as still as before with an old man in a blue robe crouched next to him. "Sora!" Riku shouted falling to his knees next to his best friend. Sora gave no response. Riku turned to the man in the blue robe. "What's wrong with him? Why can't you heal him?"

The man looked at him sadly and replied, "Riku I take it? I'm Merlin. I'm sorry there is very little I or Aerith can do. He has to fight this off himself."

"He has to fight what off?" Riku asked dreading that he already knew the answer.

Merlin sighed, "This." He lifted Sora's eyelid and Riku gasped. Sora's normally clear blue eyes were now partially swirled with black. The darkness waxed and wained as a battle must have been taking place inside Sora. Merlin gently closed Sora's eye and stood up.

Riku felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kairi kneeling down next to him her face now tearstained. Her eyes portrayed the fear that he felt deep in his gut. "Why did he lie to me?" He asked her angrily. "He said he was fine. He said it had barely touched him." He didn't know what to do. He couldn't believe this was really happening, but he couldn't deny it either. He hunched over holding his head, tangling his fingers in his long silver hair. After all he had done to protect Sora, he had failed. Xemnas had put darkness in his best friend's heart and now Riku could only sit and watch helplessly as Sora was forced to fight it off alone. The pact they had made on the beach seemed a distant memory.

Another hand was on Riku's shoulder. It was Mickey. Crouching down next to his distraught friend he asked, "Riku, can you explain to us what happened. How did this darkness get inside Sora?"

Riku took a deep breath and lifted his head. "When the portal you guys went through disappeared, Sora and I were able to escape the world with Xemnas as it fell to darkness. We fought him, but before we could beat him he transported us to the Realm of Nothingness. He was more powerful there. Xemnas hit me," Riku said indicating his injured side, "right here and knocked Sora away. I got thrown to the ground. I tried to sit up and resummon my keyblade as he approached but I was in too much pain. He said to me, 'Foolish boy, you can never win in the light. Open your heart once more to darkness and it may save you.' He brought his blades together and they turned black. He said, 'Let me help you return to your rightful place as a denizen of the dark.' He shot the darkness at me but then Sora was there blocking it with his keyblade. I could see the darkness getting absorbed by the Kingdom Key but there was too much. It started to move up Sora's arms. Xemnas laughed. He said, 'I guess you will have to do,' and he made the darkness stream even larger. Sora fell to one knee trying to keep the darkness at bay but it was still seeping past his keyblade. I don't know how but I was able to get up and put up a shield in front of Sora stopping Xemnas' attack. I ran to Sora who was still kneeling but he held out his keyblade and I put my hand on it. Together we sent a blast of light at Xemnas and he finally faded, for real this time." Riku paused and looked around; everyone was listening attentively to his story. He looked down at Sora still lying unconscious and laughed a little. "He looks like he is just sleeping on the beach like he used to when we would come here to play," he said turning to Kairi who smiled at the memory.

"He was always such a lazy bum," she said with a half hearted giggle.

Riku continued to stare at Sora but his smile faded because Sora wasn't really sleeping.

He picked back up with his story where he had left off, "After Xemnas disappeared, Sora seemed fine. I asked him about the darkness that had touched him but he said it was gone and not to worry. It wasn't until the door to light came that things went bad. He said the light was too bright and he screamed like it was burning him before he fell unconscious. Then the light enveloped us and here we are."

Riku could hear the others discussing what happened but he tuned them out. He stayed kneeling next to his best friend with Kairi at his side, holding Sora's hand in both of hers. If only I had been stronger. If only I been able to get up. If only he didn't have to save me. If only... Riku sighed. "This is all my fault." He spoke quietly enough so only Kairi could hear him.

She turned to him surprising him by replying in an angry voice, "Don't say that! Only Xemnas is to blame! You both got out of there alive and that's what you should be thinking about. You should be proud that you and Sora defeated Xemnas for good and know that Sora is fighting and he is strong. He will be fine I know it." The others had stopped talking listening to her outburst and she glared at all of them daring them to say she is wrong.

"I agree!" Goofy said suddenly, "Ahyuck, Sora is one of my best buddies. I know he will pull through!"

"He's already proven he can overcome darkness," Donald reminded them, "And when he wakes up I'll hit him over the head with my staff for scaring us all."

"Donald's right," Cloud said quietly. "Sora's taken plenty of hits and come back stronger. There is no way he'd ever let his light go out."

"That's right! Sora will fight off the darkness. There's no question about it!" King Mickey said. "But gosh, he's helped us so much, I wish there was something we could do for him."

Everyone was silent. They all wanted to help but what could they do? Only Sora could fight the darkness inside him.

Riku stood and said, "He once said his friends are his power. All we have to do is stand by him and keep him in our hearts. The connections we have with him are stronger than Xemnas' power. Sora's light is fueled by our own lights. As long as we have hope, as long as we believe in him, he will fight and he will win."

* * *

**So now I'm sure you're screaming "I want to know what's happening inside Sora's heart!" Well you will just have to wait for the next chapter!**

**It will probably be pretty short but don't get mad at me! Its hard to write a fighting scene with almost no dialogue and keep it interesting. How bout to compensate I post two chapters next time? They are both almost ready so I'll do that.**

**Until then you can sit and wait in fear of what we will find in Sora's heart. And yes, you should be afraid**.


	6. Sora's Heart

Sora lay with his cheek pressed against the cool glass. His breathing was ragged and his hands shook as he pushed himself up onto his knees. Lifting his head, ignoring his exhaustion, he stared across the stained glass panel of his heart at his advasary. As this fight had dragged on his opponent had changed. What had begun as a shapeless mass of darkness had now become a reflection of himself in shadows.

Sora wiped his hand across his mouth as he stood, removing the blood he had coughed up moments ago while lying on the ground. He lost his balance and fell back onto one knee. "Damnit," he said quietly looking down at the beautiful mosaic of his own sleeping body circled by the faces of his friends. He was losing. The darkness that had entered him was greater than he had first thought. He had already lost control of his body and now he could feel himself slowly losing control of his heart as well. Every breath, every movement had become painful. For a brief second he wondered if his actual body was showing the signs of the beating that he was receiving. He pushed that thought out of his foggy mind. It didn't matter. Pain was pain whether it was leaving a physical mark or was just a psychological trick his brain was playing on him because the darkness was taking control. Ignore the pain. Ignore it. With an extreme effort he pushed himself to his feet and summoned his keyblade.

Shadow Sora tilted it's head like it was surprised it's fallen opponent had found the strength to rise again. With a casual flick of it's wrist it shot a ball of darkness at Sora who raised his keyblade just in time to block it.

As the darkness vanished, Sora countered with a blast of ice that would have hit Shadow Sora straight on if it had not dropped into the ground. Sora watched as the spot of darkness moved across the surface of his heart. He readied himself as it stopped in front of him and his shadow leaped out. Sora swung his keyblade diagonally in front of his chest forcing the shadow to jump back out of the way. However, his follow up cut was weak and clumsy, and Shadow Sora blocked it with a keyblade of pure darkness which had suddenly appeared in it's hand. The sight of the keyblade nearly made Sora's knees buckle. Until that point, his shadow had not been able to summon a keyblade. It seemed Sora was only growing weaker as Shadow Sora grew stronger. Now desperate, Sora began to swing his keyblade wildly putting all his desperation behind it. His shadow easily dodged his pitiful attacks with light quick movements that showed it was still at full strength.

Sora lunged forward and landed off balance as Shadow Sora leapt out of the way once more. Sora felt a cold hand grab him by the back of his jacket and before he could react he was thrown high into the air. Not far behind, his shadow jumped up as well. It took the initiative and began a devestating aerial combo. Every strike seemed to find it's way to Sora's body despite his best efforts. He was too exhausted to even scream in pain as he felt the dark keyblade leave gashes all over him. The dark figure was so fast Sora didn't have time between strikes for an aerial recovery. With no way to defend himself, Sora took hit after hit until he mercifully slammed back into the ground as his keyblade disappeared from his hand.

Once more he lay with his cheek pressed against the cool glass flickering on the edge of consciousness. He lay motionless, bleeding from the numerous of cuts that his shadow had been able to inflict on him during their long battle. Black shoes came into his vision, and, after a pause, kicked Sora hard in the stomach. Gasping in pain, Sora was forced to roll onto his back. His shadow towered over him and it placed it's dark keyblade right on Sora's chest. Shadow Sora's face showed no emotion at all as it raised it's keyblade up slightly to deliver the final blow. In an attempt to save himself, Sora used the last of his energy to resummon his own keyblade to block the blow.

The keyblades slammed into each other neither giving way. Sora gritted his teeth and stared down his shadow seeing no emotion in it's blank black eyes. With a flick of it's wrist, Shadow Sora knocked Sora's keyblade out of his hand. It landed, skidding on the glass, out of reach. Sora turned his head seeing it resting next to Riku's circle. In a flash it disappeared and so did all of Sora's hopes of victory. The darkness was just too strong.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sora could see the dark keyblade rising once again above him to kill him in one fatal strike. Defeated, Sora closed his eyes waiting for the blow that would end him.

**"Giving up already? C'mon Sora, I thought you were stronger than that?"**

**"It's my lucky charm be sure to bring it back to me."**

**"All for one and one for all!"**

**"We may never meet again but we will never forget each other."**

**"Relax. Those three aren't going down that easy."**

**"There's someone with a key, the key to our survival."**

**"Why, you're the key that connects everything!"**

**"If you ever run into to trouble, you come to me."**

**"To tell you the truth Sora, I was jealous of you."**

**"You make a good other."**

**"Yup. He's a real hero chosen by the keyblade!"**

**"I wanted to see you so badly, Sora. I missed you so much!**"

Sora opens his eyes to find himself protected by an intricate shield of light. It was woven out of fine tendrils of light, each one extending out of the portraits that contained the likenesses of his friends. His shadow stumbled back and it's keyblade disappeared from it's hand. The light gave Sora strength. His friends reminded him why he had to keep fighting. He wasn't going to die. That was out of the question.

Sora's energy flowed back into his body and he watched as the power of his friends healed his injuries. He summoned his keyblade and used it to push himself to his feet. Out of the shield in front of him, he could still hear the voices of his friends.

**"Sora."**

**"Sora!"**

**"Sora."**

**"Zola."**

**"Sora!"**

**"Roxas!"**

**"Kid!"**

**"Sora..."** The shield faded away but Sora stood tall facing down his shadow with the power of his friends behind him. For a moment he stood there facing his opponent. Then his clothes began to glow and it a flash of bright light he entered Final Form. He hovered a couple inches above the ground, and although he could not see them he knew he now had two keyblades behind his back which he could control with his thoughts. His shadow hissed in anger and crouched like an animal waiting to strike. Sora stood, or rather hovered, motionless feeling his strength and power returning to him. All thoughts of defeat had been wiped from his mind, and, without his feet touching the ground, he flew towards Shadow Sora. It stood with its arms outstretched to rip him apart with it's claws. However, Sora could move much faster now. He hit it first with Kingdom Key knocking it into the air and then swung with Oblivion knocking his shadow across the glass.

Shadow Sora crashed down on its back, but jumped to it's feet unphased and charged back at Sora. Sora brought both his keyblades in front of him crossing them in the air, and watched his opponent charge. He took a deep breath. This was the fight. Win and return to the light or lose and fall forever into darkness. With a grim smile he flew to meet his shadow in the center of his stained glass heart to fight for his body, his heart, and,most importantly, his friends.

* * *

**Go get 'em Sora!**

**OK so not as short as I thought it was going to be but I will still post the next chapter in the next few minutes. .**

**As always I would love to hear what you think so write a review**!


	7. The Good Old Days

"Here," a bowl of pasta was shoved into Riku's hands and he looked up to see it was from the ninja girl Yuffie.

"Not hungry," he replied trying to give her back the bowl.

"Oh no mister! You are eating! You stayed up all last night and didn't eat breakfast this morning. Kairi gave me permission to shove it down your throat if you were being too stubborn."

With a sigh Riku stabbed a noodle on his fork and put it in his mouth with his eyes locked on her's. He chewed and swallowed. "Happy?"

She pouted. "For now," she replied. "But it better all be gone when I come back." She turned and walked back out of the Seaside Shack with her hands on her hips.

With another sigh Riku continued to eat the pasta he had been given. It didn't taste like anything to him. For all he knew it could have been cardboard he was eating. After forcing down a few more bites he gave up putting the half eaten bowl on the floor. He leaned back in the chair and looked up at the wooden ceiling. "You've got some pretty strange friends," he said quietly and then turned his head to look at Sora lying on the makeshift bed. Cid had built the bed the night before, and Riku and Leon had carried Sora in here to keep him safe from the storm that had wailed the whole night. As soon as the sun had come up this morning, the others had gone out to escape the cramped space of the tiny shack. Except Riku. He hadn't been able to make himself move from Sora's side. The others would come in for a moment, like Yuffie, but they didn't seem to want to stay too long. Riku could see the pain in their eyes when they looked down at Sora's unconscious body. Even Kairi had to leave when she had become to overwhelmed with emotions.

"Everyone is just like you told me. Cid and Merlin fought last night after Cid called him an old coot. Yuffie is...energetic and Leon is stoic. There is definitely something going on between Tifa and Cloud but I'm not sure they are a couple. And Aerith healed both of our injuries. Well, you know, the physical ones." He stopped talking and sighed again. Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him. Sora couldn't hear him, couldn't see him. It was like they were on two different worlds and it frustrated Riku that he could be so close yet so far from his best friend.

The day before he had been filled with confidence. Sora was Sora. Nothing could break him, especially not darkness. But this morning, doubt had entered his mind and he could see it on the others' faces when they had woken up to find him still sitting beside Sora, watching over him. Sora had been sleeping for so long and that could only mean this fight was not as easy for him as they had thought.

After a while, the door opened and Riku looked up to see Kairi enter. She didn't say anything and just walked over beside Sora. She ran her fingers through his hair and placed his hand to his cheek. She stood like that for a moment before sighing and turning to Riku. "I see you didn't eat the pasta."

"Not hungry."

"But I'm sure you're tired. You should try and get some sleep," Kairi said and there was a pleading note to her voice but Riku ignored it.

"I can't sleep. There is just too much on my mind right now."

Kairi frowned at his stubbornness. "At least leave this shack."

"But I have to watch-" Riku was stopped by Kairi's raised hand.

"You are not Sora's only friend here. And sitting here worrying is just going to drive you crazy. C'mon you haven't been home in forever. I have something I want to show you." She pulled him to his feet and pushed him out the door.

Outside she left him blinking in the bright sunlight and walked over to Cid and Leon talking near the dock. Riku watched her talk for a moment before the three of them returned.

"Don't worry Riku, we'll watch over the kid," Cid said rubbing his thumb across his mouth. Leon placed a hand on Riku's shoulder before walking into the shack with Cid close behind.

"C'mon," Kairi said pulling Riku away from the door. "It's this way." Gesturing down the beach towards the cove.

"What's that way?" Donald asked as he, Goofy, Mickey, and Merlin came down the wooden plank that led to the small pool of fresh water.

"It's a surprise for Riku," Kairi replied. "You guys should come see." With that she set off with the five guys following her intrigued.

"Through here," she said opening the door that led to the Cove where Sora and Riku used to race to see who could get to the star tree and back the fastest. Apparently they were not the only ones who thought it was a good spot for some friendly competition. Cloud and Tifa were going at it hard on the rickety wooden bridge. Riku and company halted behind Yuffie and Aerith who were cheering them on from the sand.

"Get him Tifa! Girl power! Girl power!" Yuffie shouted and Aerith laughed. They turned hearing the others behind them.

"Hey Riku did you finish that pasta like I told ya?" Yuffie asked.

"Every last bit," Riku replied his expression not portraying his lie. Kairi shot him a look but before she could call him out they heard a loud splash.

Cloud was standing alone on one of the wooden structures with his sword raised high in victory. Tifa sat up in the shallow water below and hung her head in defeat.

"Aww no! Tifa," Yuffie said sadly.

"The victor is Cloud," Aerith said in a happy voice.

Cloud stepped towards them with a small smug smile but that disappeared as the board underneath his foot gave way and he too fell into the water. On the sand, Yuffie began to laugh and the others joined in. Even Riku managed to crack a smile. They continued to laugh at their friend's misfortune as Cloud and Tifa helped each other up and made their way to the stairs on the other side of the the little inlet of water.

"C'mon!" Kairi said happily grabbing Riku's hand and pulling him to the broken bridge. The two of them ran across quickly knowing from years of playing here the right places to step so they wouldn't meet the same fate as Cloud. They stood on the far side to watch the others attempt to cross in their footsteps.

Donald decided that speed was the best way to get across safely and ran while screaming "Wakkk!" He made it over halfway across before one misstep sent him into the water below. For Kairi, Riku, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith, who had already made it across, another comedic fall warrented another round of laughter, but for those still making their crossing it wasn't as funny. Merlin, who was only on the first wooden structure, carefully went back to the sturdy footing of the sand.

He called, "I think I will go check on Sora. I saw Cid went into that shoe box of a shack. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Ignoring their boos, he walked back out the door with his head high.

As the others made it safely across, Donald clambered out of the water. "If I ever get my hands on the knuckled head who built that pile of firewood I'll give him a whopping he'll never forget!"

"But Donald," Riku said with the straightest face, "I though ducks like water."

"Not SALTWATER!" Donald shouted jumping up and down while Riku smirked. "It gets in between my feathers and takes forever to clean out once the water evaporates."

"Don't be such a party pooper like Merlin," Yuffie said waging her finger at the disgruntled duck.

"Merlin went to go check on Sora," Riku said brushing his bangs out of his eyes, "maybe I should go as well."

"No," Kairi said firmly taking him by the elbow. "I finally got you out of that shack and now you are coming with me whether you want to or not," she said poking him threateningly in the chest.

Riku held his hands up in surrender. "Whatever you say Princess."

"Don't call me Princess!" Kairi shouted giving him a little shove.

"Fine your highness whatever." Riku could tell he had succeeded in pissing her off while getting a few smothered laughs from the others.

She let go of his arm and stared at him her face getting redder and redder with anger.

"Gotta run," Riku said giving her a smirk before climbing up the ladder that led to the platform with the zip line.

"Riku! You get back here!"

At the top of the platform he looked down to see she had led the others on the land route to the beach so he grabbed the wooden bar and jumped. The wind blew his hair back and he smiled remembering using the zip line to beat Sora to the finish line to Sora's displeasure. However, it was not his brightest idea as he was still healing from fighting Xemnas. He landed on the far platform and bent over holding his side as it flamed for a couple seconds.

"Riku!" He looked down to see Kairi calling up to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he called back and jumped from the platform to the nearest tree and then shimmied down the trunk landing next to her and the others. He straightened rubbing his side.

"Did you hurt your side more Riku?" Mickey asked worried.

"Nah just twinged it a little," Riku replied pushing the receding pain out of his mind.

"Serves you right," Kairi said crossing her arms.

"Sorry Kairi I-" Riku stopped mid sentence seeing a familiar sight behind her. "No way," he breathed walking around her and the others.

"Its still here," he said now standing in front of the raft he, Kairi, and Sora had made. It stood as a testament to how much they had changed since those days 2 years ago when they had dreamed of finding a way to other worlds.

"All our supplies are still there too," Kairi said. "Remember how hard it was to get Sora to do his part? He just kept falling asleep on the beach."

"You were just as bad as he was," he said turning with a grin to look at her. "You were 'supervisor' so you could boss us around without doing any hard work yourself." They shared a laugh.

Riku examined the raft to see that besides the wood in the water that was beginning to rot it looked the same as he remembered. He stepped aboard carefully and touched the mast. A smile lit up his face again seeing the name Highwind scrawled clumsily at what used to be his eye level. He remembered doing that after beating Sora for the right to name their vessel.

"Maybe when Sora wakes up we can finally take that trip and see what really lies across the ocean," he says to himself forgetting the others are around him lost in his memories.

He stared off over the ocean until he felt Kairi step onto the raft as well. He turned to see her looking at the raft's name with a small smile. She looked at him and said, "That day. You know, that day the heartless came. Before we went home, Sora told me he had let you win the race so you could name the raft. He thought since you had worked the hardest on it you should get to name it."

Riku smiled, small at first and then it got bigger and bigger. Kairi smiled back at him and he burst out laughing. Kairi's smile faded as he doubled over holding his stomach laughing his head off.

"What's so funny Riku?" She said angrily, "Are you laughing at me? Are you laughing at him? Stop it! It was really sweet of him!"

"'It was really sweet of him'? Oh wow Sora you really are a player," he said finally able to stop laughing. Kairi was looking at him confused and still angry at him for laughing. Seeing her face he chuckled again and jumped off the raft. The others were looking at him with similar expressions to Kairi's. But he turned away from them and began to walk back towards the main beach.

"Riku get back here!" Kairi called jumping off the raft as well and running in front of him. "Explain yourself mister."

"Kairi, I can't tell you. You know, bros before..." he trailed off knowing he does not want to finish that statement with Kairi already angry at him.

"Are you telling me that you are bound by some stupid imaginary code?!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Hold on! The bro code is very binding," Cloud spoke up. He suddenly felt a smack to the back of his head.

"Stay out of this," Tifa said.

Riku looked around for support but his one possible ally Cloud gave him a sorry expression while rubbing the back of his head. The others just looked at him expectantly. He sighed and raised his eyes to the sky.

"Fine," he said looking back at Kairi. "I know for a fact Sora didn't throw the race. He only said that because he didn't want you think he was a loser."

"How could you know that? He could have easily thrown the race. I mean it was just to name the stupid raft. Sora was just being a good friend and letting you pick the name."

"Kairi, the race was for more than just who gets to name the raft," Riku told her.

"What? What else were you racing for?" Kairi asked surprised.

"Can't tell you. Like I said bros before-"

"Riku, I swear if you finish that sentence-"

A sudden explosion interrupted Kairi and they all looked to the sky to see red stars falling to the ground over by the shack.

"That's Merlin's magic!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"What's going on over there?" Goofy asked.

As they watched another ball of red shot into the air and exploded into stars like before.

"We need to get back over there now!" Mickey exclaimed. Kairi was already running and the others followed trying not to think the worst.

* * *

**Do you think Cloud would really win in a fight against Tifa? I was watching Advent Children the other day and she is so fricken badass!**

**I hope everything is making sense so far. If not let me know and I'll make sure to explain.**

**Next chapter is back in Sora's heart. It might be kind of short like the other one about him. Its just really hard to write a long fight scene OK!**

**If you were wondering there's probably only 3 or 4 more chapters to this story. But I'm also working on my next story and I have it outlined and it will be completely different from this one. If you have any suggestions about my writing style so I can improve in my next story I would love to know :)**


	8. Sora's Heart II

Sora felt his Final Form power slips away as he feet returned to the stained glass floor. The strength he had gotten from the drive form left him, but the strength from his friends remained. His Kingdom Key reappeared in his hand and he dropped into a battle stance ready to continue the fight.

Shadow Sora was in the middle of the panel swaying slightly, weakened by the multiple combos that Sora had been able to hit it with successively. Sora knew this was his chance, he had to finish this now before his darker self was able to regain its strength. He charged forward at his shadow which growled in anger and ran to meet him. Sora swung his keyblade catching his shadow on the hip and sending it tumbling, but upon hitting the ground it sunk in. Staying on the balls of his feet he watched carefully as the dark spot circled him. It stopped and Shadow Sora jumped out its hands stretched out like claws.

Sora had his keyblade up at his chest excepting it to lunge at his throat but instead it went for his legs. His shadow took him out at the knees and they fell into a tangled pile. Shadow Sora was on top of him and tried slash at his throat. Sora blocked its savage attacks with his keyblade and pushed against his shadow till he was able to force it off.

Sora quickly rolled onto his feet, back into a battle stance from which he stared down his adversary. His shadow must have realized that Sora now had the upper hand in close combat so it began to form a swirling ball of darkness between it's hands as it back away from him.

Sora however, was not done with close combat and ran quickly closing the distance between him and Shadow Sora. His shadow pushed it's hands towards him releasing the dark ball which flew at him, but Sora had known it was coming. Without hesitating or stopping he ran right at it, and with a swing of his keyblade he sent it flying back at it's creator.

The mass of darkness hit Shadow Sora, but with them both being darkness it barely hurt the shadow. However, the attack did knock it off balance and that gave Sora the chance he had been waiting for.

With grim determination, he used his keyblade to knock his shadow into the air and jumped after it. They both flew high above Sora's stained glass heart and Sora took the initiative this time, beginning an aerial assault. His shadow did nothing as Sora repeatedly hit it again and again with his keyblade, and Sora was able to get two full combos complete with devastativing finishing moves on Shadow Sora before they both hit the ground again.

Sora landed on his feet but his shadow was not able to get it's legs under it before hitting the glass. After a moment, it slowly pushed itself back upright only to be slammed in the chest with the Kingdom Key. It stumbled back and Sora hit it again. Shadow Sora was now right on the edge of the stained glass heart. It was weak and injured. Sora was strong and in control. He raised his keyblade to deliver the final blow. He pointed the end right at his shadow and yelled, "Light!"

A ball of light appeared on the tip of his keyblade for a moment before it shot away and hit Shadow Sora right in the chest where it's heart would be if it had one. Almost in slow motion, Sora watched as his darker side disappeared, falling off the edge of his heart.

Sora stood alone in disbelief. He had done it! He had forced his shadow out of his heart and saved himself.

With a grin he turned around and waited to wake up and see Riku again. He couldn't wait to tell him what had happened. But nothing changed. He remained on his stained glass heart alone.

His smile faded as he wondered how he would return to the physical world. Was he stuck here forever? As his fear began to rise a sudden light appeared on the other side of his heart from an unknown source high above. He sighed. There was no reason to fear, the light would lead him home. Slowly he walked towards it feeling its warmth comfort him.

_The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes._

Xemnas' final taunt seemed to ring out from all around him and Sora turned to see that the light was casting a long shadow behind him. As he watched, it peeled itself off the ground and stood facing him. Sora once more stared down his own shadow which no longer looked hurt and defeated, it looked strong and full of malice. Sora was in a state of shock. How could he have been so easily tricked into bringing his shadow back to life?

With new speed it lunged at Sora while the latter summoned his keyblade. Sora jumped back but was too slow to avoid the claws that were extended at him. Fresh pain erupted from his left side as the sharp claws easily cut through his shirt and skin leaving him shredded and bleeding. He clutched his side in agony, but refused to back down. He gripped his keyblade tighter than ever and spat the blood that had seeped into his mouth out. He was sick and tired of this shadow controlling his heart. He didn't care how many times he would have to throw the bastard off his heart; he would fight until he had defeated him for good.

His shadow, however, did not attack. Instead it began to walk backwards away from Sora until it was standing in the very center of his heart. Sora knew something was wrong. Shadow Sora had always taken advantage of every weakness Sora had shone through out their first battle and now that he stood severely injured it just walked away. Not wanting to know what Shadow Sora was planning, he began to move as fast as he could at his shadow firing the last of his magic at it as he made his way.

Shadow Sora was unphased by the magic barrage that hit it. Even as a blast of fire hit it in the stomach it raised its arm slowly and unflinchingly. In its hand appeared the keyblade of pure darkness and Sora gasped. As if sensing its prey's fear, Shadow Sora raised its head to look Sora straight in the eye before it jumped high in the air flipping around so it fell head first with its dark keyblade extended out before it.

"No!" Sora screamed realizing at the last instant what his shadow intended to do. But there was nothing Sora could do as Shadow Sora struck the stained glass panel keyblade first.

The floor under Sora's feet cracked and the edges of his heart started to crumble away. Sora ran, jumping from piece to piece, trying to reach his shadow before he fell into the darkness below, but he couldn't move fast enough. The last thing he saw before his footing gave way was his shadow rising up from his broken heart towards the physical world.

He had failed. Darkness had won. And now Sora himself fell away with the pieces of his shattered heart into the dark depths where no one would ever find him again.

* * *

**OMG! What? He lost!?**

**I don't even know what to say besides let me know what you think. The end is near so I hope you're ready for it.**


	9. Gone

Kairi was first through the door to the main beach followed closely by Mickey and Riku. She ran down the plank and onto the sand as fast as she could fear rising in the pit of her stomach. But all her fear melted away. As she passed under the bridge she was able to see a figure with spiky brown hair standing near the water.

"Sora!" She called happily racing towards him.

"Kairi wait!" Riku called after her, but she didn't hear him.

"Sora!" She said again now right next to him. But Sora didn't acknowledge her and his eyes were closed. "Sora?" She said concerned putting her hand on his shoulder. He flinched at her touch and turned his head slightly in her direction, but she could see his eyes were still closed. Then, without warning, he slapped her across the face.

"Kairi!" Riku shouted and she could hear him and the others running across the sand as she fell to the ground in surprise more than pain. Sitting in the sand she looked up at her kindest friend to see him summon a keyblade of pure darkness and put it to her throat.

"Sora," she said starting to cry, "Sora please."

"Sora's not here anymore," Shadow Sora said in a voice that was so much like Sora's but so far from it. Then Sora's eyes opened to reveal that the beautiful blue color Kairi loved so much was gone, smothered in darkness.

"No..." she whispered not believing that Sora had lost and was gone. "No!" She cried, but Shadow Sora just smiled evilly and pulled his dark keyblade back before swinging it down at her head.

She flinched at the sudden clash of metal on metal. Riku had reached her and was standing over her blocking Shadow Sora's keyblade with his Way to Dawn. "Stop it Sora!" He shouted in a slightly fearful voice.

"Don't call me Sora!" Shadow Sora shouted angrily in the same disturbing voice before jumping away from Riku and facing all that were assembled on the beach. "Sora is no more. I shattered his heart and now he has fallen into oblivion." He stopped and smiled before extending a hand to point at each of them. "And soon you will be joining him."

"You bastard!" Cloud shouted and charged across the sand. He swung his massive sword at the possessed Sora but it just bounced right off the dark keyblade Shadow Sora held out before him. Cloud was unphased and regained his balance to swing again. The others, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Tifa, and Yuffie, ran to help while Riku pulled Kairi to her feet.

"Run!" He shouted at her.

"But-"

"Go!" He said pushing her roughly towards Aerith who grabbed her hand and pulled her away as she watched Riku run towards the fray around the boy who looked so much like Sora but wasn't the boy she had grown up with.

"Kairi help me," Aerith said pulling Kairi's attention away from the battle. She turned to see that they were in front of the Seaside Shack and Merlin was lying at their feet. "Let's get him inside."

The carried him in and carefully set him on the ground. Kairi looked around spotting Cid lying face down on the ground by the stairs and Leon trying to stand using the wall as support. He started to fall and Kairi ran catching him and helping him sit back down.

"Leon! What happened to Sora?" She asked frantically.

Leon held his head with his thumb and index finger. "He woke up. But it was the wrong part of him that woke up."

Kairi covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head to try and deny what Leon had said. But she couldn't.

A low moan came from over by the stairs as Cid pushed himself onto his hands and knees. Kairi looked back at Leon who nodded that he was alright so she got up and hurried over. Cid sat up holding the back of his head.

"Cid are you alright?" Kairi asked crouching next to him.

He groaned and craned his neck to look at her. "Only if there really is three of you."

Kairi pulled his hands away much to his displeasure and inspected that bloody mess that covered the back of his head.

"Aerith!" She called as Cid groaned again. Aerith, who had been kneeling over Merlin, looked up and hurried over while Leon took her place next to the unconscious wizard. Aerith quickly looked Cid's head, "Curaga," she murmured and the soft green light made the blood disappear and the cut scabbed over. She straightened up as the light faded and went back over to Merlin.

"Kairi," Cid said trying to get up, "Kairi its Sora. He attacked us."

"No," Kairi said placing her hands on Cid's shoulders to keep him down. "That isn't Sora. He told me himself. He said...he said that Sora was gone."

A single tear falls out of her eye.

"Sora's gone eh?" Cid said rubbing his chin. "Well I'd believe that he's not in control of his body but gone? Nah. That kid is just too stubborn."

"You really think there's hope?"

"Of course there's hope!" Cid exclaimed frowning at her for doubting. Then ignoring Kairi's protests he stood swaying slightly and stumbled over to Aerith and Leon. "You guys go," he said to them as Kairi walked over as well. "I'll watch over the old coot. Just hurry up and get Sora back to normal."

Kairi needed no more convincing and threw open the door of the shack with Aerith and Leon close behind. Outside, she gasped at the horrible scene laid out before her. Shadow Sora stood in the center of a ring of all her friends, all Sora's friends, with a cold smile that showed he was enjoying the anguish his actions were causing. Riku and Mickey seemed to be the only ones who hadn't suffered any injuries so far. Cloud was holding his sword in the wrong hand, with his other arm pulled close to his chest trickling blood onto his shirt. Tifa was standing in front of Yuffie who on the ground looking close to passing out. Tifa, while standing, had a similar look like she was close to passing out and clutched her chest with her hand like it pained her. Aerith brushed by Kairi who was frozen in shock as she hurried to them. Shadow Sora was attacking Donald at the moment who seemed reluctant to do anything but protect himself against his possesed friend. Shadow Sora shouted, "Firaga!" and a burst of fire came out of the end of his dark keyblade. Donald quickly called out, "Reflect!" and the fire crashed into the shield he had created. But even with this protection, as the bright light of the fire disappeared, Kairi could see singed feathers and Donald stumbled back. Shadow Sora jumped forward to take advantage of Donald's fallen guard only to have his keyblade glance off of Goofy's shield as he jumped between the two. Kairi could see that Goofy's leg had been cut open during the battle but if it pained him he didn't show it. He stood firm and tried to talk to Sora over his shield.

"Sora! Can you hear me buddy? We don't want to hurt you."

"Shut up you stupid dog," Shadow Sora roared angrily. "That weakling is gone."

With inhuman speed, Shadow Sora swung his dark keyblade at Goofy only to have it collide with Goofy's shield once more. He continued to batter down in Goofy's defenses but King Mickey came to his aid.

"Stop!" He shouted as he knocked Shadow Sora's keyblade back. "Don't give up Sora! We all believe in you."

"I said shut up!" Kairi cringed at the part of Shadow Sora's voice that sounded like the Sora she knew. He would never talk to his friends like this. "I won! I shattered his heart! His body is mine and his light is buried under darkness. You can't beat me! I have the power if darkness, your lights are barely a pinprick. It will be my pleasure to snuff them out for good."

As he had ranted, Riku and silently crept up behind him and swung his keyblade, flat side first, at the back of Shadow Sora's head. But suddenly Shadow Sora turned around and shot him in the stomach with a blast of ice. Riku flew back crashing down on the sand as Shadow Sora approached with a snicker. Standing over Riku he said, "Sora hated you. He hated you for giving in to the dark. He hated you for everything. He blamed you for everything."

The hurt in Riku's eyes was obvious. Shadow Sora's words had knocked him off guard and the beast that looked like his best friend swung his dark keyblade at Riku still sitting in the sand defenseless. But at the last second the swing aimed at Riku's head instead switched directions hitting him in the shoulder. It still hurt alot but it wasn't a serious hit. Those who were still able to charged forward once more to attack Shadow Sora who spun around with a snarl to meet them. Kairi was finally able to unfreeze and she ran to Riku helping him to his feet.

"Riku did you see that?" She asked him excitedly.

"What? That bastard thing telling me that Sora has always hated me?" Riku replied angrily.

"Riku don't listen to him," Kairi said shaking him slightly. "And no that's not what I was talking about. Did you see him lose control?"

"What?" Riku's head snapped up to look her in the eye.

"When he swung at you that last time, he was aiming for your head but at the last second he changed direction and hit you in the shoulder," Kairi said her mind racing. "It was Sora! It had to be. He was able to force that shadow thing to change directions. Riku!" She is shaking him again. "Sora is still in there! He isn't gone!"

Riku grabs her hands stopping her from continuing to shake him in her excitement. He looks over at Leon, Cloud, Tifa, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey trying to surround Shadow Sora. As he watches, Shadow Sora evades them once more moving farther down the beach. They regroup and advance towards him with grim frowns.

"Hold on!" Riku calls releasing Kairi and running out in front of King Mickey who was leading the remaining fighters. "I'll take care of this."

"Riku you sure?" Mickey asks him a concerned note to his voice.

"I'm sure," Riku replied to Mickey but continued to watch Shadow Sora's every movement. With Way to Dawn in his hand he approached Shadow Sora.

Shadow Sora sneered at him. "What did I make you angry? Did I hurt your feelings? Did I make the big baby cry?" He twisted his face into a pout. The same pout Sora used to make when Riku beat him at their races.

Riku paused for a moment before replying, "Let Sora go. Give him back his heart."

Shadow Sora laughed, "Over my dead body!" He continued to laugh. "You get it? 'Over my dead body'. But you can't kill me. If you kill me you kill him too!"

Riku glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with Kairi standing next to Leon and Donald. She nodded confidently to him. As he turned back, Shadow Sora was already raising his keyblade to swing at Riku, but Riku was quick and able to get his own keyblade up in time. The metal keyblades crashed into each other with an earsplitting screech of metal on metal. Both refused to give ground and their faces were no more than three inches apart as they stared each other down over the locked keyblades.

"Geez," Riku said tauntingly, "How did you beat Sora? You can't even beat me."

"Oh yeah? Watch this," Shadow Sora growled back.

He turned to the side and their keyblades fell apart. He tried to jab Riku in the side as he spun past him but Riku turned just in time so the dark keyblade cut nothing but air. Shadow Sora jumped into the air trying to come down on Riku from above, but Riku created a dark shield above his head. Shadow Sora crashed right into it falling to the ground. As he hit the sand butt first, Riku laughed coldly.

"What was I supposed to watch again?"

Shadow Sora got to his feet with a growl.

"Are you going to run away to your mommy? Tell her big scary Riku knocked you on your ass?"

Shadow Sora clenched his teeth and his hand balled into a fist.  
"Oh thats right. You have no mommy. Your just a demonic bit of darkness left over from a dead nobody. Compared to Sora you are nothing. Nothing but a goddamn dreg of a son of a bitch who got his ass handed to him by two teenagers."

With that Shadow Sora lost it. With a wordless scream of fury he launched himself at Riku. He attacked in a frenzy like a wild animal, all his attention was on Riku.

"I-" Shadow Sora said between swings, "am better-than that-snivelling-pathetic-bastard."

After the last word, he swung with all his power and succeeded to send Riku to the ground and knock his keyblade out of his hand. Riku heard the others shout to him and could hear them running towards him. Their cries were drowned in a roar as Shadow Sora swung his keyblade down at Riku's head. He didn't notice the satisfied smile that ghosted Riku's lips.

Shadow Sora's keyblade stopped about an inch above Riku's head. "What the-" Shadow Sora began confused as he fought his own arm which was slowly but surely raising back up lifting the dark keyblade away from Riku.

"No," He said in disbelief. "No, you can't, I won't let you."

But the keyblade continued to rise until it was above Shadow Sora's head and screaming, "No!" he unwillingly threw his keyblade over Riku's head towards the docks and watched it fall onto the sand. It disappear in a flash. Shadow Sora clutched his chest in agony. He stared up at Riku who was now standing.

"What did you-how did you-" he struggled to ask.

"I know my best friend. I knew he would never give up. You made a mistake. You thought you were better than him and let your guard down to him when you were fighting me. Sora won he, is taking his heart and body back."

The others stood behind Riku as they watched Shadow Sora stumble away from them still clutching his chest. With a scream he turned to face the ocean holding his arms out to his sides. Out of Sora burst his shadow which tumbled through the air and landed on the water's edge. Sora collapsed to his knees and then fell on his face in the sand.

"Sora!" Kairi and Riku and all the others yelled as the rushed towards him. He stirred rolling over onto his back. But before his friends could reach him another got there first. His shadow pointed it's black hand to the sky and a forcefield dome appeared over it and Sora leaving Riku and the others outside. They watched helplessly as Sora struggled to sit up. Shadow Sora bent down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Riku yelled through the forcefield. The shadow looked up tilting its head slightly as if pondering what Riku had said.

Sora, more awake now, tried to pull himself out of his shadow's grip. It turned its attention back to him, and without warning, without emotion, without hesitation, it plunged its hand into Sora's chest.

* * *

**Finally! Geez I only started writing this story just so I could write that scene. Its been in my head forever and I've finally gotten it written down.**

**OK so we are almost done! Can you believe it? Probably only one chapter to go, or maybe two. We will see. But don't get too sad. I've started my second story! Its called MEKA which stands for Master Eraqus' Keyblade Academy. Its about what would happen if Terra, Aqua, Ven, Sora, Riku, and Kairi all lived in the Land of Departure with Master Eraqus. Check it out! So far I only have one chapter posted but I got a couple more ready to go.**

**But don't worry I'm going to finish this story before I devote my entire attention to my second one. So review and let me know what you think of my latest cliffhanger! Just when you think Sora is going to be OK his shadow comes back and fucks everything up again! That bastard is always in the way! Haha so yeah review and check out MEKA :**)


	10. Stop!

Sora opened his eyes to see...sand? Why was he lying face down in the sand? He tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees but his muscles were too weak. Instead, he settled for rolling onto his back where he could see the brilliant blue sky.

"Sora!" The combined voices all shouted his name and he turned his head to see all his friends running across the beach to him. This beach...it was home! He was home! A tear of happiness leaked out of his eye.

Suddenly, a forcefield appeared between Sora and his friends and he saw them crash into it. It held though, and they were stuck on the other side. Sora wondered for a moment who had created the forcefield and his mind settled on an unpleasant truth. His shadow appeared in his vision blocking the sun. It walked around him slowly before crouching down. Battling his exhaustion, Sora tried to sit up, but had only gotten himself propped up on his elbows when Shadow Sora grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

Sora heard Riku's voice yelling at Shadow Sora to let him go. When his shadow turned its head to stare down Riku, Sora took the opportunity to start struggling. He tugged at the cold hand on the front of his shirt, but to no avail. His shadow quickly lost interest in Riku, and turned back to Sora. Before Sora could react, it took it's dark, cold hand and plunged it into his chest.

Pain. It was all Sora knew. He screamed a single loud blood curdling scream that crack his voice. He should have passed out but for some reason he didn't. He remained awake and in agony as the cold hand inside him wrapped around something deep in his chest. His shadow squeezed its hand. Sora couldn't breathe. It felt like his entire being was being squeezed. He couldn't fight anymore. His hands, which had somehow made it to his shadow's throat, fell to the sand.

Sora watched as with a triumphant roar, Shadow Sora ripped his light out of him and let him fall back. His vision blurred. His light blinded him, but his shadow was making it dim. Sora was empty. There was nothing left inside. Without regret, he closed his eyes remembering the moment he had beaten his shadow and stopped it from hurting Riku. With a small smile, the memory slipped away with everything else, and Sora knew no more.

...

"Sora! Sora!" Riku couldn't stop screaming his best friend's name but Sora just lay still in the sand in the spot his shadow had dropped him. Riku beat his keyblade against the forcefield that blocked him from going to Sora's aid.

Riku's entire attention was focused on Sora as he continued to attack the forcefield fruitlessly until he a hand on his sword arm stopping him. It was Mickey, and with solemn eyes he pointed through the forcefield at the two figures, one of light and one of darkness, in a heated battle.

Shadow Sora was on the offensive, slashing at the light figure that it had pulled out of Sora with its claw like hands. The light figure moved swiftly avoiding the dark claws. As Riku watched, the figure of light that had come from Sora changed tactics. As the shadow lunged again, Sora's light sidestepped the attack then reached out and grabbed one of Shadow Sora wrists. The dark shadow screamed in pain at the touch of the light and twisted against the contact. Eventually it freed itself and jumped away to nurse it's injuries. Although the light figure hadn't screamed, it too stumbled back in pain.

Light and dark circled each other warily, both afraid to make contact again. Shadow Sora made the first move by shooting a ball of darkness at his opponent which Sora's light was only just able to dodge. What the figure of light didn't account for was the ball of darkness changing directions. The ball crashed into Sora's light from behind and it fell to the sand dimmer than before.

As the figure of light started to get up Shadow Sora shot another blast of darkness at it. The light figure was forced to roll out of the way. This time, thankfully, after missing the light figure the ball of darkness just dissipated. The light figure stumbled to it's feet to face down its adversary. From it's hand, a beam of light shot out at the shadow and hit it right in the chest. It tumbled backwards through the air as the group stuck on the other side of the forcefield cheered. But their excitement was short lived as the shadow landed on it's feet. Sora's light slowly moved closer but was clipped on the side by another shot of darkness that Shadow Sora fired at it. As the figure of light recovered it's balance, Shadow Sora moved quickly towards it. Sora's light was dimmer then ever and made no attempt to defend its self as Shadow Sora jumped forward with it's sharp claws held out. Kairi could contain herself no more.

"Sora!"

Suddenly, the figure of light grew brighter at the sound of her voice and in it's hand a keyblade of pure light, too bright to look at directly, appeared. Without hesitating, Sora's light lunged forward and stabbed Shadow Sora with the keyblade. Shadow Sora screamed like a wild animal as the light hit it. The figure of light pulled the keyblade back out of the dying shadow and the keyblade disappeared as quickly as it had come. Shadow Sora was flat on it's back in the sand with the light figure standing over him.

Shadow Sora appeared to be falling to pieces. Wisps of darkness faded up into the sky until there was nothing left of the darkness that had taken over Sora's heart except a final echoing scream of anger. The forcefield in front of Riku and the others disappeared as well and they rushed forward. Riku was first to Sora throwing himself onto the sand beside him.

Riku leaned his ear against Sora's chest, frantically listening for a heartbeat. But, as the others joined him, he raised his head, his eyes downcast. Kairi fell down next Riku and grabbed Sora's shoulders. "Wake up!" She cried shaking Sora's lifeless body. He gave no response remaining as limp as before. "No! No! No! No!"

Riku gently pulled Kairi off of Sora as Aerith knelt down beside their still friend. They waited anxiously with their arms around each other for her to do something. To heal Sora. For him to open his eyes and smile at then with that goofy smile of his. But, after a moment, Aerith stood back up slowly. From the sand, Riku and Kairi stared up at her in fear. Aerith looked around at the others but was unable to meet their worried gazes. Closing her eyes she said in a soft sad voice, "There is nothing I can do."

Nobody reacted because nobody could believe what she had said. Slowly Riku moved closer to Sora and pulled his friend's head into his lap. He stared down at Sora's expressionless face for a moment, and then looked up to lock eyes with Kairi. Her eyes were huge and wet with tears; her hand was over her mouth and she was shaking her head in denial. With a look of panic she twisted around and Riku followed her gaze to the figure of light who was walking towards the sun on the other end of the beach without even a glance in their direction.

"Come back!" Kairi screamed at the figure of light walking away from them.

She jumped to her feet and sprinted after Sora's light. When she caught up, Kairi jumped in front him with her arms outstretched. "Don't go!" She cried.

For the first time she was able to get a good look at the light figure. It was too bright to stare at directly, but it looked like Sora in the same way the now faded shadow had had all of Sora's features. But while Shadow Sora had had eyes of the darkest black, Light Sora had eyes of the brightest light. Those eyes looked at her without emotion.

Light Sora walked around Kairi's outstretched arms and continued his walk towards the sun. Kairi ran after him. "Please Sora! Come back. You can't go!" She pleaded with him as she hurried along next to him, but he was deaf to her cries. She stopped dead in her tracks as Light Sora continued. Kairi looked back over her shoulder at the others kneeling around Sora. Riku looked up, still holding Sora's body, and their eyes met. She could see tear tracks on his face. Riku never cried. Never.

More anger then Kairi had ever felt before boiled up out of no where. Everything here was wrong. Sora can't be dead and Riku doesn't cry. Those two things were supposed true, but because of the light figure walking away without a look back her world was being turned upside down. "Hey!" She shouted and ran after Light Sora. She got in front of him again. "Where do you think you're going?"

He didn't reply instead he tried to step around her like before. Kairi however wasn't about to let him do that again and moved with him to block his path once more. "Did you hear me? You can't go. I won't let you!"

Light Sora paused for a moment, staring over her head with those blank emotionless eyes. Once more he tried to move around her and once more Kairi moved to stop him. "Go back to Sora! Wake him up!"

She words still had no effect on Light Sora and he tried again to step around her. Desperate and angry Kairi yelled, "Stop!"

She shoved Light Sora in the chest to keep him from walking away. As her hands collided with his bright white chest his head snapped down to look her straight in the eye. He smiled. Then in the blink of an eye, the light figure flew backwards through the air away from Kairi and slammed back into Sora.

Sora's previously lifeless body jerked. He gasped his eyes fluttering open. He struggled to sit up but fell back into Riku's lap with a groan.

Everyone just froze in shock. Kairi still had her arms outstretched from her push. She looked at her hands confused then flew back across the beach. "Sora!" She screamed as she ran she could feel the tears leaking out of her eyes but didn't care. She threw herself at Sora pulling him off of Riku and into a tight hug. "Oh Sora!" She sobbed into his shoulder, "You're alive."

"Kairi..." his voice was weak but it was his and his alone. More tears fell from her eyes as he slowly lifted his arms and hugged her back, but not quite as tightly. Kairi was so lost in her happiness that it took a moment to notice there was another in their hug. Riku had put his arms around them both and the three friends held each other like they would never let each other go again.

Eventually they had to break apart. As Kairi let go of Sora he fell back on to the sand. "Sora!" She cried alarmed, but he waved his arms at her soothingly.

"I'm OK...just tired...really tired..."

He looked like he was ready to fall asleep, but Donald and Goofy had other plans. Now that Riku and Kairi had released Sora, Goofy jumped on top of him followed shortly by Donald. If Sora hadn't already been on the ground their combined weight would have knocked him down.

The tension that had been on the group since the day before finally broke and everyone burst out laughing as Sora half heartedly tried to escape their smothering embrace. When the laughing subsided, Donald and Goofy got up letting Sora prop himself up on his elbows. He grinned. "Thanks for not giving up on me," he said his voice still weak. "All of you," he said looking around, "thank you."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a blur slashing down at his head, but he didn't have time to react and it hit him on the temple. "What was that for?" He asked rubbing the spot and frowning at Donald who still had his staff raised.

"That's for scaring us!" Donald declared.

"I guess I deserve it then." Sora sighed looking down. "I'm sorry guys."

"C'mon kid none of that," Cid said leaning down with his hands on his hips. "We ain't mad."

Sora gave him a weak smile and Cid straightened back up. As he did so, Cid turned his head slightly and Sora gasped as he caught sight of his blood stained hair.

"Cid did I...?" He left the question hanging dreading the answer. Cid opened his mouth to reply, but didn't know what to say. Sora sat up and looked around at all the others taking in their injuries.

"No...no, I'm sorry...I couldn't stop it." He buried his face in his hands. The group at once began to comfort him saying that it wasn't him it was his shadow and that it didn't matter. But their words had no effect. Riku said nothing looking down at his distraught friend knowing exactly what kind of pain he was in. Self loathing. Ashamed. Failure. He knew what it felt like to lose control to darkness and end up hurting your friends. It was a pain he knew all too well and Sora now felt it eating away at him too. He shooed the others away and they took a step back. Riku sat next to Sora and pulled him into a hug. That was enough to surprise Sora into lifting his head to peer over his fingers at him. Riku leaned in and whispered in Sora's ear,

"It's OK Sora. I know it hurts. But look around, they are all still here. I'm still here. We know that wasn't you, it was the darkness that was in control. What matters is that you fought against it and won. Today you may feel like you failed, that you should have stopped the darkness sooner. You may feel like that for awhile. But believe me when I say that it will get better. I forgive you. Everyone here forgives you. When you can forgive yourself, and trust me it's not easy, then you will have really vanquished the darkness in your heart."

The empathy in his voice was real and Sora could feel it in his words. Riku could feel Sora relax in his embrace. The others came back over and with Riku they continued to comfort Sora. After awhile, Riku noticed that Sora was leaning against him more and his breathing was deep and even. "Sora?" He said softly. Sora didn't respond and Riku laughed slightly. He held up his hand to stop the flood of soothing words. "He's asleep," Riku said to the others in a stage whisper.

The others sighed in relief. Leon walked over and lifted Sora into his arms allowing Riku to stand up. It was like a parade with Leon leading the way back to the Seaside Shack while the others followed laughing and chatting finally able to smile for real for the first time in days. All the fighting, pain, and loss was behind them. As friends they squeezed into the tiny shack and watched Leon lay Sora back in the bed that had been made for him. Before the sight of Sora lying there had been anguish for Riku, but now he could look down at his sleeping friend in happiness knowing that Sora was back.

* * *

**YAY! Sora's alive!**

**So this is the end of my first fan fiction. Thank you to all the reviewers and followers especially those who have stuck around from the very beginning. Special thanks to all the people who make Kingdom Hearts for creating the most epic game in existence.**

**I would really really really like to hear everyone's opinion on the ending and this story as a whole. Write a review!**

**P.S.**

**If you liked this story and you liked my writing style please check out my new story MEKA**.


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